Going For The Gold
by Nicoletta Katherine
Summary: The world of pairs Figure Skating gets crazy as partners start switching left and right. How will Misha handle it when her partner dumps her for her arch-rival, and she is forced to work with someone else? Madness insues as the fight for the gold begins!
1. I Get Some Bad News

It was a normal day at the rink in Simsbury, Connecticut… or so I thought. But then, I found out something that I had been dreading for a long time. I was sitting in the café, looking out on the ice when they both sat down with me—my coaches that is.

"Max does not want to skate anymore." My coaches Natasia and Stanislav (Stanley) told me my partner, Max—whom I had won the New England Regional's with and came in fifth in the nation with—didn't want to skate anymore. So I would have to find a new partner. This came just as the new skating season was starting, in early summer. I had just started intense training and hadn't seen Max all June. Now I realized why he hadn't been at the rink.

"What?" I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "But I've been skating with him for over ten years!"

"We know, we know, my little Sputnik." (Don't even ask me where the nickname came from) Natasia said, "But we must take this in stride… you still want to skate, do you not?"

"Well… yeah! Of course! Skating's my life!" If I gave up now it would be an insult to my mother and grandparents, who worked so hard despite some bad times to keep me skating. And there was _no way_ I was letting Eva and Tyson win the gold again. It was all mine this year… if I could just find a partner…

"Well then we will just have to find you a new partner!" She sounded happy about it, like it was a good thing and I should be happy. But I wasn't. Max is my best friend. We've known each other since kindergarten. He even goes to the same school as me. (That's going to be awkward)

I sighed, getting up and walking to the trash to throw out my empty bowl—which was filled with a Caesar Salad about ten minutes ago.

"Come, let us go 'partner watch'." Natasia led me out into the lobby of the rink on the top floor, grabbing my arm. Stanley grumbled about his wife behind us, taking a seat near the window.

We stepped out of the Snack Bar and into the foyer. Immediately I saw dozens of people. There were about a dozen hockey players from the Hartford Wolf Pack—who were _way_ older than me, me being sixteen. So, obviously those were a no.

But then I saw him… Adam Morozov… he and his partner, Julie Stevens. They were arguing—which was no surprise.

Adam's the top guy in the world of pairs skating, even though he came in sixth place at Nationals. However, that's only because Julie has been dragging him down. They _used_ to win all the time, like two years ago when they won Nationals. But then Julie decided she didn't want to work hard anymore.

And by the looks of it right now… she wasn't coming back next season.

She walked away, without a skating bag and in normal clothes. Adam stomped his foot of the ground as his coach tried to calm him down. He kicked the wall, brushing a hand through his short blonde hair, and headed our way. I knew as well as Natasia to get out of his way.

I could almost feel the frustration radiating off of him as he passed by me, bumping my shoulder a bit. His coach rushed after him.

And then, I thought of the worst thing that could happen.

"Misha!" Natasia whisper-yelled in my ear.

"Natasia." I rolled my eyes, giving her a serious look. "He's a jerk. _Never._"

I could read her mind. She wanted me to partner up with him.

"It is fate, my Sputnik! Fate!" I started to walk towards the door and she scurried after me. I had to fight my way through a few dozen hockey players on the way.

"Yeah. Right. If you say so Natasia." I was about to open the door when she caught up to me, grabbing at my arm. My skating bag got caught in the door.

"Please, Misha! Think about it!" She pleaded. I couldn't say no to those big blue eyes.

I sighed. "Yeah… I'll think about it."

She smiled and the excitement returned to her face. "Thank you… now go! Rest! You have big day tomorrow!"

As I turned and walked out the door I realized she had said I had a big day tomorrow… but I didn't have anything planned…

_Oh shit. _She's going to set me up with Adam. I knew it! And right now, she was probably back there talking to him right now…

"Hey loser." A familiar voice came from just in front of me. Eva was entering the rink. I didn't hold the door for her.

I simply rolled my eyes.

"What's the matter? Trouble with your partner? Oh wait, I forgot—you don't have one!" She started to crack up all by herself. The people scattered around the parking lot turned to look strangely at her.

There was nothing I could do except walk away from her. She was unbelievable.

I tried to block out all the stress of the day on the drive home in my mom's old, red Volkswagen Jetta.

Would Adam even give my coach the time of day? Never mind trying out a skating session with me! He was a jerk; a know-it-all of pairs skating. Surely my mom would even see that we certainly weren't 'meant to be'.

A half an hour had gone by, by the time I got to our condo in Cromwell. I got to the front door to find that my mom was home, and making something to eat in the kitchen.

"Hey mom." It was a quick greeting. Just by my silence she knew something was wrong. I could talk forever.

"Okay, what's wrong?" She asked without skipping a beat. She dropped the bottle of Pepsi she was pouring into a cup and sat down across from me at the Island counter.

I hesitated, wondering how she would take the news.

"Max quit on me." I mumbled, looking down at the granite counter top. I placed my head on my right hand.

She didn't even gasp.

"I'm not surprised. He lost his interest years ago… he only did it because of his parents." She shrugged. "But do _you_ still want to do it?"

"Yes." I replied quickly. "Of course, but it's gonna be hard switching to another partner… I… I don't know if I can do it."

"Honey, of course you can! You're the most determined person I know! You just have to find the right person again…"

I really didn't want her to know about Adam and how Natasia was hell-bent on getting me with the best senior pairs male skater around…. But…

"Uh, well, Natasia and I were at the rink today and… we saw Adam Morozov and Julie Stevens 'break-up' I guess Jules doesn't wanna skate anymore… so she was thinking…"

"No way!" my mom exclaimed. She's a big fan of him, which gives you the idea of how many people know him from when he won the gold with Julie. He was basically famous. "Oh my god! Mimi! You _have_ to at least meet with him!"

"—but mom!"

"—you could make it all the way to the Olympics!"

I stopped short of what I was going to say. She was right. The 2010 Olympics were next February… maybe him and I could…

Wait, what I am saying? He's a jerk! We're total opposites! I could _never_ work well with him! What am I thinking?

But it was too late, she saw my face.

"Go to the rink tomorrow… and at least get to know him. I'm sure Natasia and Stanley have already talked to him and his coach."

"_Okay_..."

So I retreated to my room to get ready for bed. And as soon as I turned on the television set you can only guess what came on.

Rick Langley of Ice Network news was in Simsbury with skaters whizzing behind him across the ice. I spotted Eva in her sparkly red warm up dress. Her jet black hair was back in a ponytail tied by an even more glittery scrunchy.

"Hi! I'm Rick Langley, here at the Simsbury Ice Arena, to confirm the news about pairs couples in the world of skating switching. Things have gotten pretty mixed up over the past few transition weeks… Recently we have confirmed that Eva Parker—" they showed a clip of her doing a double loop "—has broken away from her partner, Tyson Henry. She has told us that they were drifting apart. Her new partner, Maxwell Kanjorski is eager to start training with her—" And sure enough they shot to a clip of my used-to-be partner.

"Mom!" I screamed with all my voice. She rushed into the room, holding a kitchen towel.

"What?" She stared at the TV, reading the ribbon at the bottom of the screen that wrote out: _Eva Parker breaks up with Tyson Henry… to start training with Maxwell Kanjorski, who split from his partner, Misha Romanoff._ "Oh my goodness."

"Shh!" I shushed her, still listening to Max.

"Yeah, we kind of both decided that it wasn't meant to be. We were total opposites…" He went on and on. I wanted to punch the TV right then and there.

Then the newscaster switched.

"And in other news, it's revealed that Julie Stevens and Adam Morozov have broken apart. Julie plans to team up with Tyson Henry, while Adam still has yet to find his right match…"

I threw the clicker across the room. Surely the internet helped spread all this! I yelled out in frustration.

"Uhhh! She takes _everything_ from me!" My mom flinched.

I threw the remote so hard it turned the TV off. I couldn't take anymore anyway, his last line was, "Yes, it seems things are getting very interesting in the world of pairs skating, and with the Olympics just around the corner—"

"Alright, now why don't you just get some rest, Mi… just don't think about it."

But I did think about it, _all night_. I didn't really sleep. I only fell asleep for a few hours at the most… maybe four.

All that kept running through my mind was Natasia's voice saying: _It is fate! Just think about it Misha!_


	2. I meet Simsbury's Resident Jerk

I awoke the next day to my alarm clock blaring out some Lady Gaga song. I hit the snooze button at least ten times before my mom came in and shook me back to reality.

"Misha! Misha you're gonna be late for practice!" I had early morning practice at Cromwell at ten o' clock.

Once she said that my eyes shot open. I had to make it to the rink in an hour. I felt disgusting. I needed a shower.

I immediately jumped out of bed, heading for the shower. I managed to tame my wild caramel-colored waves and pull them back into a ponytail. My hair had gotten long over the spring. Even in a ponytail it rested below my shoulders.

Since I was probably going to be meeting the resident hottie of the rink, I decided to put some eyeliner and mascara on. I didn't want to be like Eva, though, and pile the eye shadow on. Just the slightest hint of blue usually brings out my deep blue eyes. They're almost navy-blue, and thanks to my dad they're absolutely huge… I'm talking like, the size of chestnuts.

I decided to pump up the wardrobe too, pulling on a pair of black Under Armor pants and a black tank top with a fancy back and hot pink detailing. I grabbed a black warm up jacket from Junior Worlds that said, _Team USA_ in red and blue script on the back.

I checked the clock again once I was dressed and ready. It was 10:27.

Okay, so now there was only time for me to grab a Luna Bar and a bottle of water. Great.

"Okay mom, gotta go!" She didn't leave for work until twelve on Wednesdays.

"Okay be careful—"

I cut her off by the door slamming shut. I struggled to stuff my Luna Bar and water bottle in my D&G bag.

My skating bag was always in my car, so all I had to do was drive.

And that's just what I did.

About twenty minutes later I arrived at the rink. It was mass chaos. The lobby was full of moms and dads. Their chatter was almost unbearable. I thanked God my mother wasn't like that. She didn't really like talking to the other moms a lot. They all talked down to her, as if just because she wasn't rich she wasn't 'worthy'.

Needless to say my mom hates people like that. And I don't blame her.

I had to fight my way through the gossiping crowd. Their attention turned onto me as I passed. I recognized Eva's mother, who sneered and whispered something in another mother's ear. They started cackling like evil little witches. I could tell they had been watching Ice Network News.

I heard whispers as I made my way towards the locker room.

Things like: "That's her," and "What's _she_ still doing here?"

I passed by the skating shop, filled to the brim with dresses and pants and warm up suits. The lady at the counter managed a smile but went back to talking with her friend. They stared at me.

I was relieved to get down the ramp and into the locker room. There was no one in there. They were all upstairs near the snack bar, talking to Eva and her new bestie, Max.

Seeing him with her made my blood boil. It was pathetic. He left me for her. She left poor Tyson in the dust, only to get picked up by Julie. And now, the only odd balls out were me and Adam. It seemed _too_ coincidental.

I took out my skates and started to lace them, meanwhile waiting for someone to barge in on my thoughts. It happened all the time, right when I was thinking of something important, _someone_ would march through the door and—

"Ah! There you are my Sputnik!" I cringed at Natasia's voice ringing through the locker room. "Hurry up! The Zamboni is almost done and Adam is waiting!" My heart skipped a beat.

But before I could ask her what the hell was going on she slammed the door and walked off.

I hurriedly tied my skates, getting up, satisfied with the tightness and support. I grabbed my gloves, jacket and water bottle and rushed out the door.

Immediately I spotted Adam and Natasia. Adam's sandy blonde hair was poking up from inside a crowd of girls. They were all obviously Singles skaters looking for a partner… or just a boyfriend. Most of them have never been to a World stage competition, let alone with a partner.

I marched right up to them. Natasia had an overwhelmed look on her face.

"Beat it." I ordered them. They looked at me for a second. So did Adam. At first it looked like they weren't going to listen to a five foot one tall spit fire like me, but then they dispersed. I heard mumbled curses under their breaths.

Natasia brushed herself off as Adam continued to stare on in shock. I noticed he was a lot taller than me, which is good in pairs skating. Even though we both had skates on, it added the same amount of height to everyone: three inches. So I figured in real life he was about five foot seven. Either way, right now I only reached the top of his chest… maybe my forehead met his chin.

"Well." Natasia started, snapping Adam out of his daze. "Adam," she smiled, "This is Misha—."

Natasia laughed, "Well I think you know enough about each other just through those News Stations! Now, let us go on ice, yes?"

I noticed Adam's coach, Sergei had stayed with him even when Maria (Eva's coach) left him. Stanley stayed with me of course, because Natasia is his wife. But I had the feeling Sergei and Maria had never gotten along too well.

He sure was having a fine time with "Stan The Man" though.

We lined up at the boards, waiting for the Zamboni guy to give the okay. As soon as he did the skaters (at least fifteen of them) piled on. The group included Max and Eva, Tyson and Julie, and the pairs that came in second next to Eva and Tyson last year: Regina George and James Nikolai.

But this year I had the feeling that the ranks were going to change… drastically.

Adam and I got on the ice. Everyone picked a spot on the boards. I saw Alexe Gills was visiting us… and Jeremy Abbott. They're both pretty good friends of mine.

While we were stretching Natasia, Stanley and Sergei appeared on the other side of the boards.

"So, uh, you saw the News last night, I take it?" Adam's voice came from beside me.

I laughed a bit, looking over at him as I stretched my hamstrings.

"Yeah. Sometimes I really hate the Newscasters."

He had sort of a cocky smile on his face. "Really? You know, they are kind of helping the skaters… and publicity is the best form of flattery."

I switched my position, raising an eyebrow at him. "Is that what you like? Attention?"

Thank God the coaches weren't listening to us bickering already. They would've killed us both. I had never really fought with Max, though he did become a jerk sometimes… but Adam was a class-act. _He_ was the King of being cocky. He'd won Junior Nationals once before with Julie two years ago (like I mentioned before) but then they traveled down a few spots. Still, everyone regarded him as a star.

He chuckled. "Of course… but uh, you don't seem to want that much attention, do you?"

"Pft, of course not… well, maybe if it's good attention. But lately the news has been nothing but B-S."

"Hah, you call getting hooked up with me a bad thing?"

_Oh god, here comes the cockiness…_

"Oh my god." I said slightly appalled at the statement. "You really are the cockiest skater I have _ever_ met."

If he was even the slightest bit insulted he didn't show it. He just smiled. "Yep, that's what they all say before they fall in love with me."

I gave him a sarcastic look.

"Yeah well your old partner didn't seem to like you so much."

"Look, she never liked me. We were only together for those two years because our coaches liked each other… the other girls _I_ dumped."

"You make it sound like you broke off a relationship."

"I did."

I had no time to come up with a quick insult right back at him. Natasia butted in.

"Okay!" She said cheerfully. "Why don't you two go get used to warming up with each other?"

She was _way_ too excited about this. Adam and I exchanged a glance before pushing away from the boards and into the mass chaos that was the ice.

People zipped past us, already warming up jumps and moves in the field. Before long though, Adam and I were going faster than all of them. Even Eva and Max couldn't catch up.

I reluctantly let Adam take my hand and slip his arm around my waist. We stroked around, getting stares as we went. Even the parents had taken notice. They were probably wondering what the hell was going on; why I was skating with him.

"You're pretty fast." Adam muttered.

"Yeah. I get that a lot." It was my turn to be cocky.

"Oh. Feisty." He chuckled and everyone noticed his smile.

The girls that had been surrounding him before glared and sneered at me, like I was actually having fun with him.

"Hey, you better be careful. I think your fan girls think we're actually having fun with each other."

He laughed, "Well, they're right."

"Hah! I am _not _having fun with you."

We stopped near Natasia, Sergei and Stanley.

Sergei spoke up. "Okay now, let's see how you two do a death spin together. Shall we?" He had a refined and sort of know-it-all tone to his voice. He reminded me of Adam. Come to think of it, he looked a lot like Adam… maybe they were related?

I glanced at Adam, who gave me a smile. I faked one back at the coaches and followed him away from them.

"Is this the first time you're trying it with someone different?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. But it's _not_ the first time I'm actually doing the move, so just throw me around like you would Julie."

He laughed. "Throw you around? And please I couldn't possibly lift her. She was always too heavy… now you… you're uh quite—"

I knew he was going to say skinny but I stopped him. I didn't need to blush out on this ice, with our competitors watching.

"Just shut up and do the move."

He raised his eyebrows, skating around and grabbing my hand. I set it up and we did it right in the middle of center ice. At first I didn't realize it, but he spun me around _way_ faster than Max _ever_ could.

When I came out I was so dizzy I had to stop for a second. I looked to see our coaches staring on in shock. No one else seemed phased… yet.

Natasia had us do some exercises before we tried a jump together. We did a double. But Stanley wanted us to try out a triple.

"What?" I squeaked. (My voice gets high when I'm stressed)

He nodded. "I do not normally suggest it. But you two…" he put a hand to his chin… "You two are something special…"

"But Stanely!" My Russian accent kicked in (happens when I'm even more stressed). "There's no way—"

"Go. Do it Misha." He ordered.

Adam and I exchanged a glance. As we pushed away from them I muttered under my breath.

"Damnit. We're gonna embarrass ourselves. He's crazy."

Adam skated closer to me. "Don't worry about it. I won't let you fall."

"Pft, that sounds like a cheesy Chris Brown song."

"You don't believe me?"

"Why should I?"

"Because I've been lifting Julia for the past two or three years. She's way heavier than you and way harder to keep control of. You know, you should start trusting me more…"

We rounded a corner where Eva and Max had just done a triple. Everyone had noticed. I gave Max the evil eye. And everyone in this rink knows you don't want to get the evil eye from me. Even _he_ looked away. But Eva didn't know any better.

"What are you trying to say? That we're permanent partners?"

His smile made me nervous. "Maybe. That's basically up to the coaches."

"Uh, it's my decision too."

"Yeah but your opinion matters less."

I let out frustrated sigh.

"Look, Misha. I know you don't wanna admit it, but _I'll_ admit we could make a pretty amazing team together. Now let's do this jump and get it over with."

Okay, so maybe he was right. I wasn't one for admitting emotional stuff like that. And maybe we _could_ in fact, make it to the Olympics. But right now all I was focused on was landing that triple loop throw. I _had_ to. I had to show Max what he lost, and what Eva should look out for.

Me? I'm out for blood now… It's on.

(Not literally though, of course)

Adam set me up and we went for that thing in the same corner that Max and Eva had. We entered it full speed. I got ready. Steady. And jumped.

I felt his hands on my waist, twist me and throw me. I judged where I was in relation to the boards and prepared for the landing. (Take into consideration I was thinking about all of this in about less than two seconds about six feet in the air coming down on a thin blade on hard ice)

But when I landed I didn't wobble. He'd throw me perfectly straight. I didn't even wobble on the landing.

I stopped. He skated over with a cocky grin.

In fact, everyone had basically stopped. The whole rink grew quiet. I saw people staring. Some were whispering.

And then I saw Max and Eva, who were standing with Maria and their new coach, Nikolaus. They were staring, eyes narrowed into angry slits.

The silence lasted a few seconds. Even National Silver Champion, Jeremy Abbott was looking in our direction, totally ignoring whatever his coach was saying.

All I could do was stand there, mouth dropped open slightly and eyes looking confused.

It was like…

"They expected you to fall." Adam broke through my thoughts. My eyes shot up to his.

It was then that I noticed how blue they were. They were lighter than mine, and the color of the sky on a clear day in Moscow. But I quickly blinked back to reality, realizing that I was staring.

"Huh?"

"They expected us to work horribly together… I knew they were all watching." Well that wasn't insulting or anything…

As we skated back to the coaches Eva and Max flew in front of our path, making us stop and almost fall back in shock.

I was even more stunned when Adam caught me, putting a hand to my back. It was as if nothing startled him.

Eva caught my gaze again, grinning evilly. She was bound to fall sometime. Max had never been that strong. And, I would be there to laugh. Somehow I knew that Adam would always be there to catch me. He just seemed so strong and in control. I couldn't comprehend why Julie had left him…

We skated back to the coaches. They were grinning from ear to ear.

Stanley said the usual. "What did I tell you?" before letting Natasia do the talking with Sergei again.

Stanley's a quiet soul that usually lays low behind Natasia. He only says things when I'm in dire need of encouragement or need a pep talk. Nevertheless, he's always been there for me, no matter what. He's like a second Grandpa. He knew almost every fact and rule about skating, but rarely stated them. Every once in a while he'd spit out some random rule or piece of advice. They were usually in riddles and had a strong Russian accent to them. But I always figure them out. And they did, in fact, help.

"That was… amazing… alright, try some more then… anything you want… decide." She shooed us away.

We skated off and did a triple flip throw and triple lutz throw. Then we did some twists.

Every time we did, people took notice. I knew they were waiting for one of us to fall. But we never did. And I was starting to like this kid…

About an hour later, at twelve o' clock (after I had downed my Luna bar around ten thirty) the coaches suggested we all go get lunch.

They left me alone at a table for two facing the rink below… with Adam. I had the usual, a Caesar Salad. He had a Fresh Garden Salad. I guess we weren't that different after all.

"So," he started before even touching his food, "I need to ask you something…"

I looked up from my bottle of water, setting it down.

"What?"

I waited.

"Would you want to start training with me… permanently?" I hadn't even noticed that there were three Intermediate Level girls staring in our direction. Clearly they were eavesdropping. It was so obvious.

I sighed. "Adam, I never thought I'd say this, but I guess Natasia was right."

He chuckled. "I knew you'd love me after a while. Give it some time. You'll see."

"Uh hold on one second, Mr. I'm-King-Of-The-Ice. I _don't_ love you. And, come to think of it, I probably never will. However, I will make the sacrifice to become friends with you if it means I get my gold medal and win first place for once in my life."

He took it in. "I'll settle for that. So, it's official. You're my new partner?"

The girls across the other table leaned in closer.

I turned towards them. "Could you be any more obvious?"

They looked away, startled, and mumbling something about me stealing him away from them. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Yes."

They giggled.

"Oh shut up."

They stopped, but ran off to tell their friends. I watched the domino effect go around the rink. Soon I saw people on the Ice talking to each other in a pattern. And before long it reached Max and Eva. And their reaction was not good.

Adam traced my eye line, seeing them. He stared on with me as Eva stomped her foot on the Ice. I could have sworn I heard her blade smash and scuff the place where she stood.

Max threw a hand up in the air, resting the other on his hip. Even from here I saw him roll his eyes.

"He was always so gay." I blurted out without even thinking.

Adam laughed. It was the first time I'd heard him genuinely laugh because of something funny I'd said.

"Is he really?"

I looked around, seeing some parents, but the girls were gone.

I nodded slightly. "But you didn't hear it from me."

As I took a bite of my salad he burst out laughing. "I always knew he was strange… Wait, I hope you don't think I'm—."

"Don't worry, I've seen you making out with plenty enough girls outside the rink to know that you're not." I said the whole sentence with skipping a beat and got back to my salad.

I knew he was smiling.

"You know, I could grow to love that sarcasm."


End file.
